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0 pointsevincarofautumn12y ago0 comments

It’s funny how many different connotations can be conveyed by something as simple as fingernails. The cocaine pinky, false nails in pornography, some varieties of massage, as a status symbol, and classical/flamenco guitar playing come to mind.

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4 comments · 2 top-level

pbhjpbhj12y ago· 2 in thread

I find even moderately long nails make throwing pots on a pottery wheel nearly impossible to do (well). So you can add no-fingerprints + short nails to the list under potter.

Centigonal12y ago

Violinists and pianists also have to keep their finger nails clipped because nails get in the way of hitting the key/string properly. Interestingly, this is opposite to some guitar/banjo/mandolin players, who keep their nails long to help with picking, as mentioned above.

Add one more to the list!

napoleond12y ago

This is the height of pedantry (and I apologize), but guitar/banjo/mandolin players are not really "opposite" to violinists--they all need to keep the fingernails of their fingerboard hands short. The difference is that the former may choose to keep the nails of their picking fingers long, whereas the fingernail length of a violinists' bow hand is almost inconsequential.

johnchristopher12y ago

Well, the whole Sherlock Holmes magic is based on that.

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